Oxymoron
by ChikaMegumi
Summary: We're all a bit hypocritical, don't you think, Shikamaru?"


Naruto / Rated T / Complete / Oneshot / Shikamaru N. & Sakura H. / Hurt/Comfort & Friendship / 11-7-09

_"We're all a bit hypocritical, don't you think, Shikamaru?"_

**Oxymoron**

Today is the first day Sakura officially begins her role as a practicing medic in the Konoha Medical Center. So far, she has seen patient after patient – a majority of which possess faces she has never before encountered. Nonetheless, she sets a sweet smile on her face for every patient, a deceitful expression that still portrays her innocence and benign intentions.

Finishing up her rounds on the first floor, Sakura looks at her clipboard. And sighs. Why does she even bother checking when she already knows that patients on the second floor need their vitals checked as well? This was grunt work – nurse's work. Honestly a waste of the rising medic's talents, but entirely necessary, as she'd been told by Tsunade.

Staff were expected to utilize the stairs since the elevators were reserved for medical, patient, and visitor use only. Screw that. It was true that the stairs were faster, but every other person that worked in the hospital (including Tsunade herself) had wasted precious moments on numerous occasions, just by using the elevator. Why couldn't she?

That elevator really was slow; it creaked and groaned as it lazily climbed up to the second floor, without any comprehension of time. Finally, its doors slide open and Sakura scurries out, like a butterfly freed from a jar. Lab coat billowing behind her, she speeds down the halls to make up for lost time. Finally, Sakura finds room 201, which happens to be the farthest room from the elevator and closest to the stairs. (Heaven forbid the vitals weren't taken in numerical order according to room number.)

It really doesn't take that long to check a person's temperature, pulse, heart rate and blood pressure. It's the recording and documentation that takes the longest. And honestly, it's the most painful part. To continue making vital taking quick and painless, Sakura scrawls an answer into all the blanks on the patient's chart, finishing with a sloppy set of initials on the last line of the page. It is no longer a wonder why people in the medical field have such illegible penmanship.

She's halfway done with the second floor when she finally notices Shikamaru leaning against the wall adjacent to one of the rooms she hasn't yet gotten to. Again, Sakura knows without consulting her clipboard, and this time she trusts herself.

He is standing outside of Chouji's room.

"Oi Shikamaru, how are you?" Sakura asks cheerfully, plastering yet another deceitful look onto her face.

"You make me sick." Shikamaru mutters in response, as stoic as ever.

"Excuse me?" Sakura's astonished face doesn't lie, she truly doesn't understand. This time, she too is without movement.

"You're smart, figure it out Sakura. Not everything is broken, so stop acting like it's your job to fix everything."

"What do you mean? I only asked how you were…" Sakura trailed off, biting her tongue.

Silence ensued.

"I'm a medic, and it's in my job description." Sakura finally stated, not realizing she has just belittled her profession to being one equivalent to a handyman's.

Is that truly what being a medic is? Merely someone who simply _fixes_ things?

"I'm sorry Sakura." Shikamaru removes himself from the wall and stands on his own without assistance. "You know someone has a problem, and it's only natural that it be solved. That's fine, thanks. I really appreciate it. But something about it bothers me."

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?"

"It's just ironic how an injured person is capable of healing everyone else, except themself."

"Yeah," Sakura looks him straight in the eyes. "We're all a bit hypocritical, don't you think, Shikamaru?"

* * *

**A/N -**

-- Disclaimer goes here. (Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, I am not making any profits from this fanfiction and do not intend copyright infringement.)

This was short, I know. The beginnings of my drabble collection..

I love all the subtle emotions running through, along with the irony and hypocrisy.

This takes place after the Sound Four Arc, with Shikamaru visiting Chouji in the hospital..

Hope you enjoyed, let me shut up now.

-- CM


End file.
